The present invention relates to a support shaped like a dome or a tray with a handle, for supporting ice-creams, ice-lollies, yogurts and the like packaged by freezing in conventional wrappers which are substantially shaped like a truncated cone and are removable when the product is to be consumed.
It is well-known that ice-creams, ice-lollies and similar industrially-produced items are packaged by freezing in food-safe paper wrappers which are usually shaped like flattened truncated cones or truncated pyramids or are shaped like cups of various sizes.
It is also known that wrappers shaped like truncated cones or truncated pyramids are usually provided with a stick or tab which is partially inserted in the product through the larger end of the wrapper and have a portion which protrudes outside and is meant to constitute, after freezing, a means for providing support in a substantially vertical position during the removal of the paper-like wrapper from the solidified ice-cream and during its consumption.
In practice, current packages entail unpleasant drawbacks both during removal of the wrapper and during consumption which are of course caused by the fact that the supporting means is constituted only by the portion of stick or tab that protrudes from the package and is held by one hand. These drawbacks are in fact constituted by frequent damage to the solidified body of the ice-cream during removal of the protective wrapper, which usually occurs by tearing, and by even more frequent dripping produced by the slow melting which the ice-cream is subject to during the time required for its complete consumption.
In order to at least partially obviate these drawbacks and particularly the dripping of the product, frustum-shaped packages have been provided which have, at the smaller end of the wrapper, an initial collapsible portion starting from which successive squeezing produces the gradual sliding of the gelled body of the ice-cream toward the larger end of the wrapper, until part of the ice-cream protrudes from the top of said wrapper; through successive squeezing of the wrapper the user can thus eat all of the ice-cream.
Even this solution, however, does not avoid the drawback of the dripping of the product onto the hand of the consumer or in any case outside the wrapper and most of all does not allow truly full consumption of the product.